1. Field
Embodiments relate generally to nanowires and more particularly, to a method of fabricating nanowires.
2. Background
Nanowires may be used in fabrication of various devices, such as transistors, displays, sensors or other devices. Typically, nanowires are formed using catalytic particles, such as gold particles. One conventional technique for forming nanowires involves providing catalytic particles on a surface of a substrate as described in block 110 of FIG. 1. Then, the catalytic particles are exposed to a vapor precursor, such as silane, under conditions suited to catalyze growth of silicon nanowires, as described in block 120 of FIG. 1. The nanowires 204 grown using conventional techniques may be inadequate for certain applications due to difficulties associated with producing nanowires of uniform lengths. FIG. 2 illustrates nanowires 204 grown using conventional techniques in which the lengths of the nanowires vary considerably even though they were grown under the same conditions.
Another disadvantage is that conventional techniques have low nanowire growth yield. That is, conventional techniques for fabricating nanowires are typically unable to produce more than one nanowire 204 per each catalytic particle 202 used in the fabrication process, as shown in FIG. 2. Yet another disadvantage is that the catalytic particles typically remain attached to the nanowires even after the completion of the nanowire fabrication process. The catalytic particles attached to the nanowires may not be desirable in fabrication of various devices.